M.2 SSD not visible when connected via PCI-e board

[jimh227]

Hi all,

I am having trouble using an M.2 2280 SSD with my Rockpro64. The SSD is attached via a PCI-e card, but the drive does not register with the computer. When I run `lsblk`, the 1TB drive does not appear.

I have double checked the SSD is functional by plugging it into another laptop (using an external SSD casing). I have also tried two different OS's on the Rockpro, and two different PCI-e cards.

My setup is as follows

• new ROCKPRO64
  
• ROCKPro64 PCI-e X4 to M.2/NGFF NVMe SSD Interface Card
  
• also tried using another PCI-e card, with no success
  
• WD Blue 3D NAND SATA M.2 2280 SSD, 1TB
  
• 12V 5A power supply
  
• OS 1: manjaro-xfce-21.2.1-220103-linux515.iso
  
• OS 2: RoninOS (Manjaro fork designed for Rockpro64): https://wiki.ronindojo.io/en/gui-setup/step1
  

My only ideas are that:

• I have missed out something in the hardware setup that would allow the PCI-e board to function properly
  
• The PCI-e port/reader on the Rockpro motherboard is faulty
  

Any advice or help is much appreciated.

[tophneal]

Have you confirmed the NVMe drive type is PCIe and not SATA?

[dukla2000]

...

• WD Blue 3D NAND SATA M.2 2280 SSD, 1TB
  

...

Please be aware that the Pine64 SSD interface card is intended for use with NVMe devices. These can be identified by the fact they have a single (Key M) notch, e.g. the WD Black devices.  While M2/NGFF SATA devices (with a Key B notch, typically have Key M as well) will physically fit, they will not work. e.g. WD Blue devices.

[jimh227]

@tophneal @dukla2000 Thank you both for the replies. You're right, the SSD is SATA. I thought if it had the right form factor, it would work.

Is there an adaptor for the Rockpro that will allow me to use this drive? Or do I need to get a different SSD?

Thanks again

[zer0sig]

@tophneal @dukla2000 Thank you both for the replies. You're right, the SSD is SATA. I thought if it had the right form factor, it would work.

Is there an adaptor for the Rockpro that will allow me to use this drive? Or do I need to get a different SSD?

Thanks again

I'm not 100% sure but this looks very similar in size to the m.2 NVMe card. It also has a second regular SATA controller. Would probably try to find out about the controller chip and whether is is supported by the linux kernel (to its credit, the kernel covers a fantastic array of drive controllers).